In the 1990s, Sunny Deol and Rajkumar Santoshi were considered a promising actor-director duo. Whenever they came together, records were broken, and new benchmarks were set. After Ghayal (1990) and Damini (1993), they reunited for an out-and-out action drama, that became a bigger hit than their last two films.
In this film, Sunny had to fight seven powerful villains, and he justified his one-man army title by giving a powerful performance. This movie was the Diwali release of 1996, and despite clashing with Aamir Khan's Raja Hindustani, it became a solid blockbuster. Yes, we're talking about Ghatak: Lethal.
Sunny Deol was not the original choice for Ghatak?
In the pre-production, Rajkumar Santoshi had Kamal Haasan in his mind for the film. The pan-India star was even signed for the film, and it was touted to be Kamal's return to Bollywood after Dekha Pyaar Tumhara (1985). An advertisement also appeared in Screen magazine noting "Welcome back to the Hindi screen."
Why Kamal got replaced with Sunny Deol
As per the media reports, no producer was willing to back the film with Kamal in the lead. As per IMDb, distributors suggested Rajkumar sign Sunny as they have a good track record with Ghayal and Damini. And that's how Sunny was signed for the film.
This actress walked out of Ghatak
As per the IMDb, not Meenakshi Seshadri, but Raveena Tandon was originally signed for the film. However, she walked out of the film after shooting it for 10 days.
Box office collection of Ghatak
Ghatak was released in the festive week of Diwali, on November 15, 1996. The film clashed with Aamir Khan's Raja Hindustani, but despite the clash, it became the second highest-grossing film of the year, below Aamir's film. Made in the reported budget of Rs 6 crores, Ghatak grossed Rs 32 crores.
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